Samuel L. Jackson Says Editing Weird Film May Have Cost Him Oscar Consideration

July 20, 2023 8:11 p.m.

Samuel L. Jackson thinks excessive editing ruined a performance that deserved Oscar consideration.

In a new Vulture profile, Jackson said he thought his performance in Joel Schumacher would be a way to get him some Oscar consideration.

It lasted until he saw the finished movie.

"The things they took out kept me from getting an Oscar," Jackson said. He was shocked by one deleted scene in particular. “Really, my mothers? Did you just take that shit from me?"

The scene in question was a hit with those who saw it.

"My first day working on this movie, I did a speech in a room with an actor and the whole fucking set was in tears when I finished," Jackson recalled. "I was like, Okay. I'm on the right page.

But, he says, "It's not in the movie! And I know why it's not. Because it wasn't my movie and they weren't trying to make me a star."

This was one of the first times this happened to him. He claims to have subsequently learned to understand the "why" of editing decisions.

"There are things I've done in other movies where I've said, 'Wait a minute. Why did you take that moment out of the movie? Because the moment, in this movie, is bigger than the movie.'

While Jackson may forgive the excision of a scene from A Time To Kill, others continue to get pissed off.

"When I kill these guys, I kill them because my daughter needs to know that these guys are no longer on the planet and will never hurt her again - that I will do anything to protect her," Jackson said. "That's how I played this character throughout. And there were specific things that we shot, things that I did to make sure she understood that, but in the process of editing, they got cut out."

He continued, "It looked like I killed those guys, then planned every move to make sure I was going to get away with it. When I saw it, I was sitting there like, What the fuck?"

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